There is a little over five weeks remaining until the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival 2015 kicks off and the countdown is already underway. This will be the ninth edition of the biggest motorsport event in Thailand and for the first time the Bangsaen Street Circuit will be FIA homologated with Grade 3 being the target.
That means major upgrades are now underway with changes focused on improving safety and meeting FIA requirements being made all around the track. This work is also being coupled to an improved operational layout that includes a new support paddock, which is now being prepared along with a new location for administrative buildings. The work is going on around the clock in Bangsaen and in this news update Thailand Super Series (TSS) Vice President Preeda Tantemsapya explains in detail the upgrades.
While ‘Bangsaen 2015′ is still more than a month away, more imminently, this coming weekend in fact, the much talked about new ‘TCR’ concept will arrive in Thailand and with Racing Spirit set to launch ‘TCR Thailand’ in 2016 this international event will represent a great opportunity for prospective teams and drivers to take a look at the cars of this exciting new touring car championship up close.
Also in this issue there’s full race report from Super 1500′s double header at the last round and as is always the case with this category the action was intensive at the front of the pack and the title fight is going to go down to the wire in Bangsaen after the remaining two championship hopefuls, Khun Kajornsak Na Songkhla and Khun Nuttapong Lertlumprasertkul, came away from Bira Circuit separated by just five points, the former having hauled himself right back in the fight with two wins from the two races. Once again the Super 1500 ‘pendulum’ had swung in a different direction.
Major upgrades underway for ‘Bangsaen 2015’
The ninth edition of the Bangsaen Thailand Speed Festival will see significant structural changes as the street circuit achieves FIA Grade level status for the first time. One year short of the tenth anniversary running, next month event will usher in the ‘second generation’ of the Speed Festival.
Last year saw a real international breakthrough for Bangsaen in terms of both growing recognition and wider regional interest and that was the catalyst to introduce operational upgrades that will be phased in over two years to bring the event up to a world class standard in time for the landmark tenth edition in late 2016.
Last year saw track design inspectors observe the event in detail and that has been followed up with multiple survey visits, detailed computer modeling and improvements put into motion to reach FIA approval, the processes being submitted and analysed by motorsport’s world governing body in steps this year.
Of key significance in terms of track layout will be two new runoff areas that will reduce potential flashpoints. They are Turn 8, the sharp right hander at the end of the high speed straight incorporating the temporary chicane and, probably the most significantly, at Turn 13 the sharp left hander at Laem Tan cape that has seen many drivers overcook it over the years and take a trip into the tyre wall.
“From the suggestions of [track designer] Simon Gardini from Apex those are two hotspots that we have had to take into consideration,” explains Khun Preeda. “At [Turn 8] we have managed to create an extension into the [grounds of the] Bangsaen Villa [Hotel]. The purpose there is to do a run off area incase the car comes in too fast so we were lucky to be able to extend that opening. The second [Turn 13] where frequently we would see accidents we have managed to extend it out with a runoff and there will be a permanent crane there now just like at Lisboa [a flashpoint 90 degree right hand corner] in Macau to lift off cars so it will be much quicker and the race can resume quicker than if we bring in a recovery truck.” Up to now the recovery truck used at Turn 13 has had to be deployed from the escape road at Turn 10, the ‘roundabout’, with the recovery operation then terminating in the paddock.
Another change to circuit safety in fact comes immediately after this tricky corner, on the inside between Turn 13 and Turn 14 where original stonewalls that have thus far formed a barrier will be upgraded. “The stone surface won’t suffice,” explains Khun Preeda. “The FIA suggested to us to eliminate all stone walls from the circuit. There is another as you go up Kao Samuk [between Turn 3 and Turn 4] where we used partially the existing stonewall and partially with fencing so we have to take out all the stone wall and have permanent fencing.”
All the arrangements of netted catch fencing, steel- and concrete-barriers are being optimised this year to meet demanding FIA requirements, as Khun Preeda explains. “The concrete barriers have to be reconfigured and improved and each one must now carry no less than four tons weight,” he says. “We are in the process of having them built now, the length of each has to be 4 metres and being that heavy we have to upgrade our forklift trucks to 10 ton [load capacity] ones.
“For the fencing we need to have the correct size of hole so the marshals can wave their flags and for their posts to be covered in a correct way,” he adds. Khun Preeda also notes that the horizontal sections of the guardrails need to be slightly adjusted in terms distance to each other in order to maximise their absorption capabilities in the event of contact.
With a permanent crane installed on the inside of Turn 13 (at the point of entry) reduction in racecar recovery times – and thus shortening yellow, red or Safety Car periods – will be improved and to further optimise the speed of recovery the number of trucks with cranes will be increased from the three used last year to four this year, each being situated strategically to cover a key section of the circuit.
The supporting medical facilities, very centrally located, will also see an upgrade this year. “The Medical Center will be up to FIA standards, such as having a bathtub incase of fire,” says Khun Preeda. “It will be located opposite 6 O’Clock [Restaurant, on Bangsaen Sai 2 Road].
That brings us to the key supporting structures. The first phase of a reorganisation of the dummy grid, paddock and administrative zone is being put into place with a large permanent paddock apron currently being constructed opposite the dummy grid area. This 9,000 sq. m. paddock will house all support series while Super Car and Super 2000 will remain in their traditional position on Beach Road as usual. The paddock will be accessed by a new large gate on Bangsaen Soi 5 (the first road running between Beach Road and Sai 2 Rd), big enough to allow full size transporters to access.
There will also be a new administrative zone located between Beach Road and the support paddock that will include the race organisers’ and VIP offices as well as the Media Center. Two new pedestrian gates have been fitted to allow access from the dummy grid area, eliminating the trestle bridge arrangement over the wall in recent years.
This will create a more compact format which is easier to manage, will give better access for both teams and racecars making their way to live areas and especially for improved paddock security, which is very difficult to manage with the current highly spread out arrangement.
The year-by-year growth of the Beach Road paddock had reached a tipping point where a new long-term practical solution was required. “Last year the extension of the pit got beyond being able to control it all in a correct manner,” notes Khun Preeda. “The stretch was 1.6 kilometres from one end to the other, it creates a lot of traffic problems.”
Moving the support series paddock will in turn extend further the reach of Beach Road during the Speed Festival and that will improve spectator traffic flows, as well as allowing fans and racecars to enjoy greater parking facilities and access to beachside food outlets.
With a little over a month still remaining until the Speed Festival gets underway work is underway round the clock. The first phase sees the non-constricting structures installed. This includes barriers in the Kao Samuk section and grandstands on both sides of the start finish straight on the run up to Turn 2. Sections will gradually join up to complete the ‘jigsaw’ with the final pieces that close down routine access being moved into position overnight the day before the track goes live while at that point temporary foot and vehicle carrying bridges will move into operation to minimise inconvenience.
Managing the smooth flow of traffic movements and access for local businesses and residents is always a key priority for the organizers and that process will in fact be greatly improved – and also made safer – by the required incorporation of new access gates in circuit barriers.
“The opening gates we had aren’t up to FIA standards so we have created thirty new gates that can be opened quite easily but can also be secured once the race starts on Tuesday,” says Khun Preeda. “The gates used to cause quite a few problems, for example the gates for going into the houses had to be closed down. The new permanent gates can be opened with convenience.” As well as improving safety, the gates will provide a double bonus by cutting down delays in operation and thus will increase convenience within the circuit zone.
Attaining FIA Grade 3 status has been a lengthy and demanding task – in fact the work started during the last edition of the Speed Festival almost exactly ten months ago when inspectors from Apex first examined the track in detail and observed the overall operation of the event – as well as involving significant investment by the organisers, but Khun Preeda is sure that it will all be worthwhile. “The final inspection by the FIA will be done on the Monday [22 November] but we can’t close the whole track down until the community are ready so the work will go on overnight and the final inspection won’t be done until Monday morning,” he says.
He’s confident that the circuit will meet all required criteria. “That will set Bangsaen up on the world motorsport map as another street circuit with FIA Grade 3 approval,” he adds. “It will be the same grade as Macau and I think with this grade the future of Bangsaen will look very bright especially for 2016 which will be our tenth anniversary and with that approval we can certainly draw in more international events next year.”
GT Asia and TCR set to roll into Thailand for the first time
The arrival of GT Asia Series, TCR International Series and TCR Asia Series in Thailand for the first time opens up a lot of synergies with TSS. Motorsport Asia, the promoter of GT Asia Series and TCR Asia Series is also a technical partner of TSS and that’s offered up a window of opportunity for teams in Super Car to take part in the continent’s premier sportscar series.
Several of our teams, from both Super Car’s Class 1-GT3 and Class 2-GTM, will be in action and we wish them good luck and know they will represent Thailand with skill and ability. We also wish Khun Piti Bhirombhakdi and his team good luck; he’s been flying the flag for Thailand superbly this year in GT Asia Series and we expect more of the same as he wraps up the year on ‘home soil’.
TCR is set to provoke a lot of interest ahead of the full launch in 2016 of ‘TCR Thailand’ and the weekend’s action in Buriram will offer Thai drivers, teams and sport stakeholders a superb opportunity to see the new touring car racing concept up close and in action.
For TCR International Series this will be the penultimate round of a very successful 11-round inaugural season while for TCR Asia Series it’s a case of a compact four round series and the regional competitors will also have a final round remaining. Both series in fact will combine again in Macau next month for the season finale.
Of interest to prospective Thai teams will be an almost full portfolio of TCR homologated cars in action on Chang International Circuit which will include the SEAT Leon, Honda Civic TCR, VW Golf TCR, Ford Focus ST, Opel Astra OPC and Subaru STi TCR. Already Thai stakeholders have placed orders for some of these brands, particularly the SEAT and Honda, and this will be an unrivalled opportunity to see all the cars involved in dynamic action. Despite being the first ever season for the brand-new TCR concept and the fact that the specifically series-compliant racecars are only really starting to come on-stream a full grid of around 25 cars is expected in Buriram this coming weekend.
In an added twist next year’s second visit here by TCR International Series and TCR Asia Series will combine with TCR Thailand and that means our own drivers will be on track with these global and regional stars allowing our hotshots to measure themselves up against the best touring car drivers and hopefully put themselves in the shop window while grabbing some international headlines.
It also means that while TCR Thailand will have four rounds supporting the usual TSS calendar, there will be a fifth round combined with the international series – so the inaugural TCR Thailand will be a bumper 5 round/10 race series.
The TCR cars will take to the track for the first time ever in Thailand this coming Friday (23 October) at midday when the competitors roar out onto the Buriram circuit for two consecutive hours of free practice. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday (24 October) while the two 13-lap races for TCR International Series and TCR Asia Series (combined) will be run on Sunday (25 October).
Watch out for a global star in Buriram
In terms of top touring car stars they don’t come much bigger than Khun Alain Menu and the Swiss driver will be heading for Thailand later this coming week as he joins TCR International Series for the final two rounds of the year. That means Thai fans will be able to see yet another top name driver in action here and there is an extra twist as he will drive the new Subaru STi TCR which has become the latest racecar to be homologated for TCR to take to the action after debuting at the last round in Singapore.
In all likelihood the new Subaru STi TCR, a brand and in fact a specific model that both resonate very strongly here, will become a popular choice for consideration in the future by Thai teams and drivers looking to join the forthcoming TCR Thailand. So it’s going to see an extra bit of attention in the paddock.
Italian preparation concern Top Run has been allocated the licence to develop the Japanese car for TCR homologation and it has developed and built the new Subaru STi TCR just in time for the Singapore and Buriram rounds so it’s going to be more of a test session than an all out push to win.
That said Khun Alain isn’t known for hanging around and certainly he’s one of the most successful touring car racers of the last two decades, claiming two titles in the British Touring Car Championship (in 1997 for Renault and in 2000 for Ford) before switching to the FIA World Touring Car Championship in which he scored 22 race victories for Chevrolet, finishing twice on the Drivers’ Championship podium (runner up in 2012 and third in 2011).
“This will be one of the greatest challenges in my racing career, as in Thailand I will have to cope with a new team, a new car, a new championship and a new racetrack altogether, but I like challenges,” Khun Menu said in a statement issued last week by TCR International Series. “In any case we will treat Thailand as a shake down, an occasion for us to get to know each other and prepare for Macau.”
Top Run’s Team Manager Khun Renato Russo also commented, “To have Alain driving for us is a unique opportunity. We couldn’t wish for a more experienced and faster driver to help us in the process of developing the Subaru TCR. For the whole team this is a fantastic motivation to do our best and give him a competitive car.”
Upgraded Honda Civic TCR ‘Step 2’ to debut in Buriram
Of clear interest to prospective Thai drivers and teams is JAS Motorsport’s Honda Civic TCR and that car has undergone significant technical developments in recent weeks with the new ‘Step 2’ version of the Japanese car now set to make its racing debut next weekend in Buriram. “The most significant update concerns the engine,” JAS co-owner Maurizio Ambrogetti told the official TCR International Series website yesterday. “The first version of the Civic TCR was powered by a normally-aspirated engine with the addition of a turbocharger. The ‘Step 2’ car is powered by the production turbocharged unit from the new Civic Type-R. We are confident that this will give our TCR customers a solid base for the 2016 season.”
The engine might represent the peak of the technical update, but a number of other small changes have also been made. “We have adjusted something here and there on the basis of the experience we had gained during the season so far. Indeed, the Civic TCR has been tested and developed in racing conditions during all the previous events. Now the two final rounds in Thailand and Macau will help us to test the changes that will be implemented in the cars that will be available to customers in 2016,” Ambrogetti noted. Meanwhile, production of the Civic TCR is quickly moving forward. “We have just completed the fourteenth chassis and our goal is to build and sell twenty-five cars before the beginning of the 2016 season,” added. “We wish to have at least two cars running in each TCR series.”
TSS Bira Race Reports: Super 1500
It looks like the title fight in Super 1500 is going to go down to the wire in Bangsaen after the remaining two championship hopefuls, Khun Kajornsak Na Songkhla and Khun Nuttapong Lertlumprasertkul, came away from Bira Circuit separated by just five points, the former having hauled himself right back in the fight with two wins from the two races. Once again the pendulum had swung.
However when the lights had turned green for the first race of the weekend on the Saturday it was Khun Kajornsak who stormed into the race lead from pole but over the course of the first lap’s argy-bargy he came off the worst, dropping to P3 with Khun Nuttapong and his brother Khun Komkrit taking up the top spots in their green-and-black Honda Civic hatchbacks with the blue-and-white Ford Fiesta slotting in right behind them. Next up was Khun U-tain Pongprapas who had a great first lap but then undid all that good work and spun, dropping down the field to eighth. The big loser on the first lap though was Khun Chanapol Choochavalit who also spun and dropped to the back.
By the time the cars had done 3 laps Khun Komkrit was all over the tail of Khun Nuttapong while Khun Kajornsak was playing a waiting game a couple of car lengths back.
By the sixth lap Khun Nuttapong had broken the challenge from his teammate and pulled out a two second advantage and now it was Khun Komkrit who fell back into the clutches of Khun Kajornsak, the Fiesta driver taking a look a couple of times at his rival but he just couldn’t make a pass stick. The gap seesawed before Khun Komkrit pulled out of the clutches of Khun Kajornsak and proceeded to close back in on his brother.
On the twelfth lap Khun U-tain pulled off the track and stopped, that was a costly DNF in terms of the Class C championship fight as he needed a big score to haul himself into contention. He parked the Civic up on the grass verge and his title hopes were certainly receeding fast.
Over the final laps of the race the leading trio closed up and it stayed that way to the flag, Khun Komkrit swarming all over the back of Khun Nuttapong as they took the flag with Khun Kajornsak dropping away slightly. Crucially as Khun Nuttapong looked to close down the gap to the championship leader, Khun Kajornsak, he did just that, slicing 8 points out of the deficit to put the pair on equal points going into the second and final race of the weekend.
Fourth past the flag was Khun Teerasak Sakphaet and he had kept on the tail of the front three, in fact just 2.389 seconds covered the top four finishers. Crucially though that gave him Class C victory, his third of the year, and that allowed him to pull out at the top of the class classification overnight. The top five overall was completed by Khun Isara Limthanetkul, who would thus start on pole position for the second race thanks to the top five reverse grid rule, but he was more than three quarters of a minute down the road from the front running quartet by the time the flag had waved after 22 minutes and 18 laps of racing.
On Sunday morning Khun Isara lined up the #155 Civic on pole position on the top-five reverse grid and he kept the lead into Turn 1 and then led the pack throughout the first lap, only losing the lead through Turn 2 the second time around.
The championship leaders quickly got down to business when the lights went green, Khun Kajornsak starting on Row 2 and Khun Nuttapong, from Row 3 battling together right from the off and then translating that battle for position into a battle for the lead on only the second lap.
Khun Isara fell down to P4 as Khun Komkrit also got past and he quickly had pressure from Khun Teerasak to also contend with. Khun Komkrit settled into P3 as the top two took their ferocious battle for maximum points down the road.
Finally Khun Teerasak got past Khun Isara for P4 by going all the way round the outside at Turn 2 on the sixth lap and it was looking very much like a replay of the first race.
The battle between Khun Kajornsak and Khun Nuttapong in fact went all the way to the flag while behind them Khun Komkrit fell back and had to fend off Khun Teerasak who wasn’t content with sitting on a commanding lead in Class C.
The race was decided with just 2 laps to go as Khun Nuttapong finally elbowed his way past Khun Kajornsak and with clear air in front he was able to immediately pull clear and open up a cushion of 3.41 seconds by the time the checkered flag fell. Khun Komkrit held off Khun Teerasak to the end, the gap was just six tenths of a second but the latter was very satisfied to bag his second straight Class C win while the top five overall was wrapped up by Khun Isara.
Coming into the weekend Khun Nuttapong had trailed Khun Kajornsak by 8 points. However after some costly points losses earlier in the season Khun Nuttapong demonstrated that he wants this title and a maximum score of 40 points saw him overhaul Khun Kajornsak and take a slender 5-point advantage to the season closer next month in Bangsaen. But anything can happen on these treacherous streets and it’s simply far too close to call.
Khun Teerasak meanwhile was crowned the first champion of the season as his double win at Bira gives him a 41-point advantage in Class C with a total of 40-points still remaining on offer. His tally of four wins and two runners up spots from the six races so far this season is real title winning form and he thus wraps up the championship in style.
The Class C runners up spot is going to see a battle in Bangsaen between Khun Chanapol (69-points) and Khun U-tain (55-points) although the former will arrive at the seaside with a decent cushion.
“Here to stay”
It’s coming up to a year since TSS launched its ‘Live Stream’ application. Running all day – literally – from dawn to dusk, the feed of the action covered Friday through to Sunday and allowed fans to watch the race action of PCs, tablets and phones as well as getting up close behind the scenes. That’s all in addition to Live TV coverage of the main races on True Sports as well as giant screens placed strategically at key hotspots around the circuits.
Live Streaming was first rolled out in ‘beta’ format at the Buriram round last November, the penultimate event of the year, before going officially live at ‘Bangsaen 2014’ where is proved to be a major hit. A year on and last month at Bira Circuit the stream was expanded to include YouTube as well as the web link.
That mix worked very well with more than 14,000 viewers tuning in over the weekend via PC, tablet and phone with a further 13,000 viewers watching via YouTube. Viewers also logged on from dozens of countries, as well as of course from Thailand, more than proving the growing international appeal of the TSS concept. The ease of accessibility also meant that fans around the track could watch the races live on their smart phones meaning they didn’t miss a second of the race action that was out of their immediate range of vision.
The good news is that Live Streaming is now a permanent part of the platform of communicating TSS, according to Vice President Preeda Tantemsapya. “It’s here to stay for sure,” he said. “Since we introduced it the streaming has proved to be very popular and it keeps everyone up to date with what’s going on. It’s worked very well and moreover we look forward to the streaming getting across more of the atmosphere in Bangsaen next month and then of course into the 2016 season.”
For the record at Bira Circuit last month a total of 9,961 viewers tuned in via the link on the official TSS website (www.thailandsuperseries.net) to see the Saturday action unfolding via PC/smart phone/tablet with the majority of those viewers, 4,384, coming via smart phones. On Sunday there were 7,493 viewers via PC/smart phone/tablet and again the biggest segment, 3,652 viewers, came through smart phones. The YouTube option also proved very popular with 4,736 viewers for Saturday’s action and that ramped up to 8,716 viewers for Sunday as this new option gathered momentum.